ditfandomcom-20200214-history
Abalan
Abalan was a former assassin and a major character in The Life and Legends: The Gladiator and a supporting character in The Life and Legends: Annabeth. Background Personality It is unknown what sort of child Abalan was, but what is known is that when he stood against the Gladiator, wielding the NoHead’s own sword against him, he did so out of a desire for vengeance after his father’s murder. This desire marked Abalan’s first step towards the dark side, and the Gladiator recognized this in him. Despite this desire for vengeance, he was not yet completely fallen, still being traumatized by the Gladiator’s massacre of the robot soldiers immediately afterwards. All of these traumatic events would cause Abalan to repress all of his childhood memories, and forget his own name, though his initial step towards the Dark side remained a permanent part of his personality for much of his life. Abalan was raised by the Gladiator, who was not a very kindly father figure, creating turmoil, anger, and apathy in his mind. He was trained to be loyal, but also a ruthless assassin and an unstoppable force. Though he was brutally and continually punished by his master, Abalan submitted willingly to the teaching method of the warlord, essentially because he knew nothing else, and this instilled in him the belief that whatever did not kill him would make him stronger, more adept at wielding the Darkness. Such was Abalan’s state of mind towards the end of his training, a part of him almost wished for death. His subjugation to the Gladiator even displayed itself in his voice and manner, as he affected a formalized and faintly aristocratic accent whenever he was in the Gladiator’s presence, in stark contrast to his usual behavior. In addition, due to his life-long isolation from all but a few individuals, Abalan was reclusive, and emotionally remote to all but WINDOW, and only began to open up to Laleh Clipso after a great deal of time, though his feelings of compassion for her would continue to confuse him. Ronald Koda said that when Abalan approached him in Manhattan, his love for Laleh was the one bright spot among all his dark thoughts that gave him hope that Abalan could be redeemed. When hunting down and dispatching his targets, Abalan was always satisfied that he had helped defend the NoHeads and fulfill his master’s will. To that end, he was disturbed by the fact that he would have to cut down war robots during his mission to kill General Koda, feeling that their only crime had been to cross his path, but he was careful to conceal his feelings from his master. At the same time, for much of his life he had craved a confrontation with a police officer, and was excited by the prospect. While powerful and confident, Abalan demonstrated many different sides to his personality. He was wary of his purpose in life and what he was meant to do; he began with a sure focus on the evil destiny trained into him by the Gladiator. However, his exposure to both the police, the Light, and also to the reality of NoHead life caused his focus to waver. Ultimately, his innate sense of loyalty proved incompatible with NoHead philosophy, and he gradually made his choices in life accordingly. After the Gladiator’s second betrayal in Japan, Abalan displayed not only anger, but also pity for the warlord, remarking that if he were to die there, then the Gladiator would never be free from his master. With this last betrayal, Abalan rejected the NoHeads and the dark side, and finally admitted his love for Laleh Clipso, and held on to it until his death. When he converted to the light, the last of his NoHead persona ceased to exist, and he fully accepted his destiny in the makings of righteousness. During his battle with the Gladiator, Abalan stated that he did not hate the warlord, but pitied him, declaring that he would kill him to free him. When the Emperor tempted Abalan into killing the Gladiator, Abalan struggled briefly with his emotions, but in the end decided he would not return to the darkness, and so made his choice to attack the Emperor instead, saving himself from the darkness. In the end, Abalan was driven by loyalty to his friends, and willingly surrendered his life to help one of them find purpose in life, which he had been denied. Development D. Isaac Thomas, writer of The Life and Legends: The Gladiator, said that his codename began with “A”; it was later revealed to be “Abalan,” which he claimed he did not know how he’d thought of it. He insisted that it “just popped into his head.” In concept art, Abalan also wears what appears to be some sort of shackles. Non-canonical appearances The Gladiator: Ultimate NoHead Edition This novel is a non-canonical Dark alternate ending of The Life and Legends: The Gladiator contained in two content missions, which act as alternate versions of The Super Babies: Book I: Pride of the Super Babies and The Super Babies: Book II: The Blabberish Singer, respectively. The will of the Dark Lord In it, Abalan chooses to finish off the Gladiator, avenging the murder of his father and the two betrayals on himself. After another long battle, Abalan stripped the Gladiator of his sword and ran him through with it. Abalan then returned to the main platform where the Emperor was standing over an injured Koda. He instructed the apprentice to kill Koda, giving himself to the dark side and fulfilling his destiny. Abalan drew his sword, ready to strike down his new mentor, but instead turned and swung at Mr. Stupid NoHead. NoHead immediately ignited his own sword, easily deflecting his attack. He admitted to having foreseen the attack and shocked Abalan with a blast of lightning before flinging him through a window out onto the landing platform as Laleh flew the Shadow Laser down for boarding. Staggering on the ground, Abalan saw that Bladepoint and the other police officers had already been killed. Mr. Stupid NoHead telekinetically gripped the Shadow Laser and hurled it at Abalan. Screaming in terror as the massive vessel fell on top of him, Abalan was struck silent and saw utter blackness the next moment. Abalan later woke up on an operating table, much like the one Sebiscuits would rest on during his own transformation while his suit was constructed. He was now wearing his own suit of armor, presumably the only thing keeping him alive. Mr. Stupid NoHead stood before him, saying he expected more from the apprentice and thought he could have one day become the greatest NoHead in the world. Abalan became NoHead’s apprentice, obliged to do the Emperor’s bidding, and screamed in agony as his suit was completed. He bore six swords on his belt —his original sword, the Gladiator’s sword, Ronald Koda’s sword, half of Mr. Demonic NoHead’s sword, his new NoHead sword and the severed end of Casey Tartus’ long-handled sword. Zira's Palace The storyline of the non-canon Dark alternate ending is continued in two content missions, which act as alternate versions of The Super Babies: Book I: Pride of the Super Babies and The Super Babies: Book II: The Blabberish Singer, respectively. The missions are later included in the Ultimate NoHead Edition release. The first mission features Abalan, now referred to as “Lord Abalan”, hunting down Baby Intelligence after the alternate destruction of China. Making his way to Zira’s Palace to request information from the Empress, Lord Abalan is double-crossed by the woman and dumped into Zira’s death pit, though not before Sammy Salaraga inadvertently reveals that Baby Intelligence is at the McRae House. Defeating the Beast, Lord Abalan fights his way through the underlevels of the Palace towards the hangar, encountering a heavily damaged WINDOW en route. Once there, he’s intercepted by Xydarone. The two battle back and forth across the hangar before Lord Abalan deflects the bounty hunter’s own rocket back at her, killing the woman. The McCallin House Commandeering one of Zira’s skiffs, Lord Abalan travels to the McCallin House, intercepting the S.M.S.B. during their escape. Before he can destroy the house, however, he is confronted by Baby Intelligence. Despite Intelligence’s valiant efforts, Abalan proves the stronger, and Intelligence is impaled through the shoulder before being vaporized against a triceratops horn, blowing it up. However, Lord Abalan is then attacked by Baby Intelligence’s ghost, though he dissipates it with a barrage of lightning. As the Pinewood Derby takes off, Abalan manages to leap onto the hull, attaching a tracking device before falling off. The Yellowstone Base The Yellowstone mission depicts an alternate version of the Mission to Yellowstone, with Lord Abalan infiltrating the Yellowstone Base through a series of unstable caverns. Fighting his way through the base, Abalan eventually gets into a confrontation with Lindsay Kellerman. After a fierce duel, Lindsay flees, leaving Abalan to contend with a trio of Bratpros. Abalan eventually makes his way to the hangar, where he disables a shield generator protecting the Pinewood Derby and gets into a renewed confrontation with Kellerman. As their battle wears on, Kellerman eventually gives in to her rage and falls to the Dark side, becoming significantly more powerful. However, she still falls before Abalan’s might, and loses her hand. As the Pinewood Derby flees the scene, Lord Abalan grasps the ship in a telekinetic grip, holding it in place while declaring to Lindsay that the only way she can save her friends is to give in to the dark side. Lindsay does so, blasting Abalan with a surge of red lightning. Abalan lets the Derby go, gleefully advancing on Kellerman, declaring the now yellow-eyed Lindsay to be his apprentice. ''The Gladiator: Ultimate Cloning Edition Abalan does not appear in this alternate ending of ''The Life and Legends: The Gladiator, yet he is crucial to the plot. In secret, the Gladiator preserved his former apprentice’s corpse and brought it to Florida and stored it within the cloning facility of Tallahassee. The body would serve as the genetic template that the Gladiator needed, hoping to clone a more powerful and obedient version of his deceased apprentice. However, due to side effects caused by the accelerated cloning process and memory flashes used in their training, the clones retained the original Abalan’s memories and emotions and were constantly haunted by visions of his life, many going insane within months. After numerous failures, the Gladiator finally created a clone that appeared stable enough to be the first success. Unfortunately, however, the clone began to suffer from the same visions that his predecessors did. The Gladiator was forced to replicate his fallen disciple on multiple occasions in a bid to gradually correct the imperfect procedure. Approximately six months after Abalan’s death, the Dark Lord’s experiment — conducted in secret within the Tallahassee Cloning Facility — produced hundreds of abject failures and a rogue clone who escaped from Florida. Despite such setbacks, the Gladiator ultimately succeeded in his goal to engineer the perfect clone of his former apprentice. A far more powerful version of Abalan, the clone successfully purged himself of the emotional imprints that undermined his precursors. Relationships References Category:Characters Category:Reformed characters Category:Heroes Category:Villains Category:Mutants Category:Males Category:The Super Babies characters Category:The Super Babies villains Category:NoHeads Category:Military characters Category:Deceased Category:D.I.T. characters Category:Swordsmen Category:Warriors Category:Anti-heroes